Friday, September 23, 2011

Formula One in Singapore - A NIGHTMARE FOR MANY!

I for one support those who are really affected by the Singapore F1 in town, with all the traffic diversions and all, it is not something I am looking forward to.

However, I do support the F1 being in Singapore, since they create tourist arrivals which means more money for some, hoteliers alike. However, this is my latest suggestion to the F1 committee…

 

BE REAL, GET REAL… RACE ON THE LIVE TRACKS, meaning you do your racing on the actual streets , with real traffic moving in and out of the area.  Just as any illegal racer will do…

The best and suitable location:
TUAS CHECKPOINT , TUAS MARINA with the AYE open for real use (so ok, we cordon off special zones for them)

The time?? 5.30pm – 9pm when the Singapore Malaysia traffic is the most heaviest and you get to race against the real racers of East Asia – The Malaysian Commuter Motorcyclist… NO SPEED LIMIT for everyone! So you get head to head and race on the live 3 lane with cars and bikes and the Causeway Link CW3 & CW6 buses trying to get home….. Little modifications will be made..so you get to race from Ahmad Ibrahim PIE roundabout to Tuas , turn left at Coca Cola, Zip Zap again onto the main highway , hairpin U turn into the road again.

My Suggested Route:

Flag off at JALAN AHMAD IBRAHIM Southward (so ok, close that road, go against the flow )

Tuas Road, Right into Tuas Ave 3, Right into Tuas Ave 3, into AYE Heading Tuas Checkpoint (MAIN FLOW – LIVE TRAFFIC!!!)

U Turn at Second Link (WATCH OUT FOR THE CW3 BUSES) into AYE and HARD LEFT U TURN into PASIR LABA ROAD

U Turn at PIE Upper Jurong Road, Head into AHMAD IBRAHIM (LIVE TRAFFIC!!!)

STRAIGHT ON, Pit stop at COCA COLA!

 

That with no POLICE CORDON or special check etc…

 

That … is what I can call, RACING….

Of course, they have to redo the Pasir Laba Road…but it is worth it…

 

Grandstand at AHMAD IBRAHIM  stretch, Pasir Labar and a few others…

Many can watch on the side with no guard rails….

 

How much it will affect the traffic.. none..but the F1 drivers better be super careful with the crazy riders and bus drivers and more…..That will test their skills and nerves…

Make it 200 laps….DAY TONA racing… on F1….

Only make ONE LANE RED ZONE …so no one can enter just like the Red Bus Lane…. Give them a bit of safety if they want to use ONE lane..they want to test their luck, overtake on live road….

 

What say you, FORMULA ONE? TONY FERNANDEZ? RICHARD BRANSON??? ALONSO?

 

 

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Wallet in your phone

Be prepared Malaysia, your wallet will soon be a thing of the past. A current research & development by a Government Linked Company here based in Kuala Lumpur boasts the disappearance of your wallet in the near future. Why? Because of the new payment system which boosts the number of micropayments within the commercial and consumer entities. With transactions less than RM100, all you need to do is to WAVE your phone onto the device, be it an Android or iPhone , it is SIM-DEPENDENT.

WHY MY MOBILE? Because, you never leave home without your mobile phone, as it’s the blood line of the 21st century. Of course, it will be tagged to your Savings or Current / Bank accounts and also your favorite Visa, Mastercard or Charge Card. Security wise, it will be far more secure than you think, since there will be more than 3 Factor Security Authentication tagged in place.

 

For micro payments, it takes just as how your Touch-N-Go card or VisaWave/Paypass works. You just wave it. It is tagged directly to your e-wallet and if you lose your phone, it won’t work because you have black listed it, so the SIM Registration is the first security factor. It can be tagged to your PREPAID SIM CARD just as how you load your Phone Credit. Usually for less than RM50. It does not hurt much if you loose RM50 right?? Your data on the SIM CARD is also stored offsite. This may be used to PRE AUTHORISE YOUR FUEL PURCHASE. Great for Mamak shop, Petrol Station or  Groceries Shop. Also great to pay for your parking and toll.

 

For Payments between RM50-RM250 such as Supermarkets, Departmental Stores, Utility and Government Dues like PTPTN or MARA or LHDN, the user can either call in to a short code / Toll Free Number or SMS the transaction code for the final amount.

1)Merchant Enters Amount

2)User Enters Phone Number

3)User Select type of payment (PREPAID/CHARGE/FAST DEBIT/PAYPAL/OTHERS)

4)Enters Payment PIN CODE

5)Enter TYPE OF ACCOUNT for others (Maybank2U SAV/CHECK etc etc)

6)SWIPE FINGER PRINT for Auth.

Terminal will then run the PREAUTH TAC CODE to be sent to the customer phone

Customer will then enter the 2nd Level code in and it will complete.

 

For payments between RM250-RM2000, Voice recognition will occur. System will call the customer if it is against the standard fraud detection. In this instance, at the point of registration, BIOMETRIC recognition will begin, full fingerprinting and Voice recording be done. Recording A-Z ,0-9, Customer FULL NAME, Identity Card Number, Mother Maiden Name, etc… A security Word like a Alphanumeric password that only the customer will know. The system will ask for the certain Alphabet/Number of the word, just as banks do.  For example Code word is WHOAM1 and the request code is 1,2,4, the reply will be W,H,A

 

Why this happen? Because sometimes we borrow our fathers, brothers, sisters, wife/husband card/phone/topup card etc… so no one can forge your voice genetic or even your finger print.

 

Just in case you lose your phone in the middle of the night or been robbed or left everything… you can pay your cabby for your ride home and your fingerprint will be the authenticator for the payment. There will be a little buffer like say RM50-100 just in case we ran out of cash, or if the pre-auth have not been lifted. We all know that we are at times, been in a tight fix, waiting for the pay at the end of the day … so this is the human side of things. Something like SOS-TOPUP

 

The system will also have a DEMAND PAYMENT for a PEER-to-Peer payment, just as how you pay your friend. Be it he in Malaysia or overseas, USSD request can be made just as how it is done on Paypal. You will probably know how SHARE-A-TOPUP or ASK-A-TOPUP  on your prepaid mobile. So when the other party receive the request, he can accept or deny by doing a short code auth. (*100#/*118#/*128#), Select the menus, Enter AUTH CODE WORD.

 

This is going to be great to the merchant because the P2P rate is so low (about 5-20c) per transaction, less than 0.5% (About RM1) per Debit transaction just as MEPS or 1.5% for Charge. It reduces the cash on the till at the merchant, and if the merchant allows it, CASH BACK service, like NETS-CASH in Singapore. It charges maybe RM1-RM2 to the customer which the merchant can cash out up to RM500 or so, depending on their comfort level. Supermarkets may like this. There will no longer a clutter of so many machines on the till. Just one. ONE TO PAY, and One to sell PREPAID, ALL SERVICES, ONE to PAY BILLS. ALL BILLS. Merchants get 10-30c for bill payment, so it’s a good service. No excuse NOT to pay your PTPTN MONEY. No need to go to Post Office to cash your Retirement / Pension Warrant. You can also topup your Touch-N-Go/EzLink/NETS-Flashpay/CEPAS and accept SINGAPORE CUSTOMERS.

 

What may happen later on, is you can pay for your toll using your phone….. and even buy tickets.

 

So who is handling this?? Like I said.. government linked agencies.. since they want money back from borrowers. No more excuse too far to go to the bank, post office , BSN etc. It’s just round the corner. Like PAYPOINT in UK. I say it’s call ONE2Pay.

 

This is really Service!!!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Termination of TM Prepaid Homeline

Just to let many of you know, the old RING RING program which relies on the home user to prepay their home line for calling and rental credit is coming to a close. I have been swamped with many customers who are still on the prepaid program, on how and what will happen after this.

 

What it is, actually is the number of inactive number of customers (me included) who use the RING RING CARD (aka iTalk Card) to purchase airtime for their residential landline phones. Though the actual calling rate is 40c for local and mobile phones (Same Zone), and between RM1.20 to RM2.40 for outstation calls (aka long distance), the savings is on the line rental which is actually RM3 per month, and it must be recharged every 30days. If one relapsed the recharge period , they have a grace period of 30 days before the incoming call facility is TOSsed (Temporarily Out-of Service – TOS) and a new Starter pack is needed (RM30) obtainable from TM Point outlets (not dealers).  Recharge coupons are activated by purchasing iTalk cards (RM10/30/50).

 

However, due to many relapses and the lack of recharge starter packs (RESTART PACKS) , TM are running out of numbers in many areas , such as Penang , Kulim, Seremban, Melaka, Muar , Bahau and the regions. Thus , the termination of contract or automatic conversion process for all. Any have loads of money prepaid into their account, and this is the issue. As such, from what I was told and saw, by end of September 2011 or Early October, all Prepaid Numbers are converted and Normalised into POST PAY services at standard call plans.

 

What is means, is that the current rental plan will be RM25+RM4 (itemized billing , Paperbilling and duties) per month and that is supposingly the minimum. There is another stealth program, which is RM15 for DOMESTIC CALLS ONLY, meaning within the same exchange. For example, if you are in Seremban 06-677xxxx, you can call the same exchange of Seremban, Senawang and Rasah ( 677/766 ) zones only and no regional or mobile calls. It only allows free incoming calls. It is good for those who don’t use much. But contrary to what many people say, it’s quite dangerous, if you need to call your next of kin etc.

 

Another package is the ITKS plan for STUDENTS. This has no rental but prepaid card is needed to call out and no incoming calls accepted (HOTLINE SERVICE). But honestly, this is not good. Streamyx or UNIFI packages offer free landline call plans for RM110/mth!

 

If you need more details.. please ask!